PHILADELPHIA| The 2016 presidential election is not about Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative policies, but about the “American experiment of self-government”– democracy itself, US President Barack Obama told the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.

“It’s not just a choice between parties or policies; the usual debates between left and right,” Obama said. “This is a more fundamental choice– about who we are as a people.

“Anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end,” he said. “That’s America.”

Democrats called on Americans to reject what they called the politics of fear and division of the GOP and elect Hillary Clinton during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

“If you’re serious about democracy, you can’t afford to stay home just because she might not align with you on every issue. You’ve got to get in the arena with her, because democracy isn’t a spectator sport. America isn’t about ‘yes he will.’ It’s about ‘yes WEcan,’” Obama said.